The idea that human rights involve the right not to be hungry, the right to healthcare, the right to an adequate income or the right to primary education acquired omnipresent characteristics after World War II when these rights became part of international conventions on human rights protection as well as part of national constitutions. The scope of human rights has thus been greatly expanded, which has faced some resistance. This paper is aimed at clarification of the nature of welfare or socio-economic rights and reasons behind their inclusion in fundamental human rights and their incorporation in constitutional texts. This first part of the paper elaborates specific philosophical criticism addressed to this group of rights: the criticism that challenges their universality and inalienability. The primary goal of the second part of the paper is to investigate the referring provisions of the Croatian Constitution and depict the ways in which the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia interprets and thus tailors welfare rights.